Direction-reversing device and exercise equipment

ABSTRACT

A direction-reversing device includes a frame, two side wheels, a reverse wheel module, a flexible member and a tension adjusting mechanism. The side wheels are pivotally disposed on two side of the frame, respectively. The reverse wheel module disposed at the frame includes two reverse wheels. The reverse wheels are coaxially disposed to the frame and perpendicular to the side wheels. The flexible member is wound around the side wheels and the reverse wheels. The tension adjusting mechanism disposed at the frame includes at least one fastener. The fastener connecting the reverse wheel module to the frame is for changing a relative position between the frame and the reverse wheel module. Therefore, a tension of the flexible member is changed accordingly.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser.No. 62/278,455, filed Jan. 14, 2016, which is herein incorporated byreference.

BACKGROUND

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a direction-reversing device and anexercise equipment. More particularly, the present disclosure relates toa direction-reversing device and an exercise equipment for reciprocatingexercise.

Description of Related Art

High knee skips is a common exercise. Through lifting the legs up to hipheight, the abdominal muscle and the hip muscle can be trainedeffectively. The high knee skips not only can improve the metabolism andthe blood circulation, but also can improve the body curve.

However, the steppers or treedmills in the market cannot assist a userto do high knee exercise. Without the assistance of exercise apparatus,the user needs to do high knee skips himself. Therefore, the exercisestrength is limited. Hence, some practitioners developed a high kneeexercise equipment for assisting the user to do high knee skips.

The high knee exercise equipment includes a supporting frame, a seat, ahandle and two pedals. The user sits on the seat with his/her legslaying on the pedals and swing his/her two legs toward oppositedirection. The high knee exercise equipment allows the pedals to swingto a specific height so that the user can lift the legs up to hip heightto achieve the exercising effect of high knee skips.

Because the legs need to swing toward different direction, adirection-reversing device is needed for the high knee exerciseequipment. But the conventional direction-reversing device has adisadvantage of unsmooth motion and the swinging resistance of thepedals is hard to be adjusted. As a result, the high knee exerciseequipment is inconvenient.

Base on the aforementioned problems, how to improve the structure of thedirection-reversing device and manufacture an exercise equipment havingbetter performance becomes a pursuit target for practitioners.

SUMMARY

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a direction-reversingdevice includes a frame, two side wheels, a reverse wheel module, aflexible member and a tension adjusting mechanism. The side wheels arepivotally disposed on two side of the frame, respectively. The reversewheel module disposed at the frame includes two reverse wheels. Thereverse wheels are coaxially disposed to the frame and perpendicular tothe side wheels. The flexible member is wound around the side wheels andthe reverse wheels. The tension adjusting mechanism disposed at theframe includes at least one fastener. The fastener connecting thereverse wheel module to the frame is for changing a relative positionbetween the frame and the reverse wheel module. Therefore, a tension ofthe flexible member is changed accordingly.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, an exerciseequipment includes a supporting frame, a direction-reversing device, andtwo lever sets. The direction-reversing device disposed on thesupporting frame includes a frame, two side wheels, a reverse wheelmodule, a flexible member and a tension adjusting mechanism. The sidewheels are pivotally disposed on two side of the frame, respectively.The reverse wheel module disposed at the frame includes two reversewheels. The reverse wheels are coaxially disposed to the frame andperpendicular to the side wheels. The flexible member is wound aroundthe side wheels and the reverse wheels. The tension adjusting mechanismdisposed at the frame includes at least one fastener. The fastenerconnecting the reverse wheel module to the frame is for changing arelative position between the frame and the reverse wheel module.Therefore, a tension of the flexible member is changed accordingly. Thetwo lever sets are connected to the two side wheels of thedirection-reversing device, respectively. The two lever sets are linkedwith the direction-reversing device for swinging reciprocately andreversely.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure can be more fully understood by reading the followingdetailed description of the embodiment, with reference made to theaccompanying drawings as follows:

FIG. 1 shows a three dimensional view of a direction-reversing deviceaccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the direction-reversing device of FIG.1;

FIG. 3A shows a cross-sectional view of one using state of thedirection-reversing device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3B shows a cross-sectional view of another using state thedirection-reversing device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of a direction-reversing deviceaccording to another embodiment the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows a three dimensional view of an exercise equipment accordingto further another embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 6 shows a three dimensional view of a direction-reversing deviceand lever sets of FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows a three dimensional view of a direction-reversing device100 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 showsan exploded view of the direction-reversing device 100 of FIG. 1. Asshown in FIGS. 1 and 2 the direction-reversing device 100 includes aframe 200, two side wheels 310, 320, a reverse wheel module 400, aflexible member 600 and a tension adjusting mechanism 500. The sidewheels 310, 320 are pivotally disposed on two sides of the frame 200,respectively. The reverse wheel module 400 disposed at the frame 200includes two reverse wheels 410, 420. The reverse wheels 410, 420 arecoaxially disposed to the frame 200 and perpendicular to the side wheels310, 320. The flexible member 600 is wound around the side wheels 310,320 and the reverse wheels 410, 420. The tension adjusting mechanism 500disposed at the frame 200 includes at least one fastener 510. Thefastener 510 connecting the reverse wheel module 400 to the frame 200 isfor changing a relative position between the frame 200 and the reversewheel module 400. Therefore, a tension of the flexible member 600 ischanged accordingly.

Through the configuration of the side wheels 310, 320, the reversewheels 410, 420 and the flexible member 600, the side wheel 310 canrotate at a first direction while the side wheel 320 rotates at a seconddirection opposite to the first direction. Moreover, the tension of theflexible member 600 can be adjusted by changing the relative positionbetween the frame 200 and the reverse wheel module 400 with the tensionadjusting mechanism 500. Therefore, a goal of doing reversing-exercisecan be achieved, and advancements of simple structure and adjustabletension can be enhanced. The structure of the direction-reversing device100 will be described in detail in the following paragraphs.

The frame 200 can be made of metal material which has enough mechanicstrength to prevent deformation. The frame 200 can include a main body220, a hollow 210, at least one fastening hole 240 (shown in FIG. 3A),two bolt holes 250 (shown in FIG. 3A) and four slotted holes 230.According to the embodiment of FIG. 1, the frame 200 includes twofastening holes 240. The main body 220 has a rectangular prism shape andincludes a first wall (not labeled), a second wall (not labeled) and athird wall 223 (shown in FIG. 3A). The second wall is opposite to thefirst wall, and the third wall connects both the first wall and thesecond wall to form the hollow 210. Two of the slotted holes 230 aredisposed at the first wall. The other two of the slotted holes 230 aredisposed at the second wall, and the fastening holes 240 and the boltholes 250 are disposed at the third wall 223 in parallel. An axis ofeach of the fastening holes 240 is perpendicular to an axis of each ofthe slotted holes 230. The slotted holes 230, the fastening holes 240and the bolt holes 250 are all communicated with the hollow 210.

The side wheel 310 is pivotally disposed at one side of the frame 200and the other side wheel 320 is pivotally disposed at the opposite sideof the frame 200. The two side wheels 310, 320 are disposed coaxiallyalong the central axis I1 of the side wheels 310, 320.

The reverse wheel module 400 includes two reverse wheels 410, 420 and anaxle 430. The axle 430 connects the reverse wheels 410, 420 and isdisposed inside the frame 200. More particularly, the axle 430 is a rodstructure and is disposed in the hollow 210. The reverse wheel 410 ispivotally disposed at one end of the axle 430, and the other reversewheel 420 is pivotally disposed at the other end of the axle 430. Thetwo reverse wheels 410, 420 are disposed coaxially along the centralaxis 12 of the reverse wheels 410, 420, which is perpendicular to thecentral axis I1. The axle 430 includes two pin holes 431 and twothreading holes 432. The pin holes 431 and the threading holes 432 aredisposed at the body of the axle 430. Precisely, each of the pin holes431 and the treading holes 432 is a through hole, and an axis of each ofthe pin holes 431 is perpendicular to an axis of each of the threadingholes 432.

The tension adjusting mechanism 500 includes two fasteners 510. Thefasteners 510 are engaged with the threading holes 432 through thefastening holes 240, respectively. To be more specific, each of thefasteners 510 is a bolts with an outer thread (not labeled), and each ofthe threading holes 432 has an inner thread (not shown) corresponding tothe outer thread. When the fasteners 510 are rotated in the threadingholes 432, the axle 430 can be moved forward or backward coordinatingwith the rotation of the fasteners 510.

The tension adjusting mechanism 500 can further include two screws 530and two bolts 520. Each of the positioning pins 530 is coupled with oneof the pin holes 431 and two of the slotted holes 230 which arecorresponding to each other, and each of the bolts 520 is inserted intothe frame 200 to push against the axle 430. In detail, the screw 530passes through one slotted hole 230 on the first wall of the main body220 to insert into the pin hole 431, and passes through another slottedhole 230 on the second wall of the main body 220 to come out. Each ofthe bolts 520 passes through each of the bolt holes 250 to abut anoutside surface of the axle 430. Therefore, the axle 430 can be held onan expected position.

The quantities of the fastener 510 the fastening hole 240, the bolt hole250, the slotted hole 230, the threading hole 432, the pin hole 431 thescrew 530 and the bolt 520 mentioned above are exemplary and will not belimited thereto.

The direction-reversing device 100 can further include two securestructures 700. Each of the secure structures 700 is disposed at each ofthe side wheels 310, 320 to restricting the flexible member 600 andincludes two holes 710, a pad 720, two screws 730 and two connectingelements 740. The two connecting elements 740 of each of the securestructures 700 are disposed at two sides of the side wheel 310 or twosides of the side wheel 320, respectively. The holes 710 are disposed atthe pad 720. Each of the screws 730 passes through each of the holes 710to engage with each of the connecting elements 740 so as to fix the pad720 on the side wheel 310 or the side wheel 320. The pad 720 abutsagainst the flexible member 600 to prevent the flexible member 600 fromloosening. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the pad 720 can further includea rough surface 721 (shown in FIG. 3A) facing toward the flexible member600. The rough surface 721 can increase the friction between theflexible member 600 and the pad 720 and facilitate for holding theflexible member 600 on the side wheel 310 or the side wheel 320 tightly.In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the flexible member 600 is a belt, but theflexible belt can be a cable, a wire or a cord and will not be limitedthereto.

FIG. 3A shows a cross-sectional view of one using state of thedirection-reversing device 100 of FIG. 1. FIG. 3B shows across-sectional view of another using state of the direction-reversingdevice 100 of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 3A, a distance between thecentral axis 12 of the reverse wheels 410, 420 and the third wall 223 ofthe frame 200 is D1. If a user wants to adjust the tension of theflexible member 600, the bolts 520 can be loosed first, and then thefasteners 510 can be rotated to change the relative position between thereverse wheels 410, 420 and the frame 200. As shown in FIG. 3B, thereverse wheels 410, 420 can be moved backward to change the distance,and the tension of the flexible member 600 becomes larger, that is,after adjusting the tension of the flexible member 600, the distancebetween the central axis I2 of the reverse wheels 410, 420 and the>thirdwall 223 of the frame 200 is defined as D2, and the distance D2 issmaller than the distance D1 which means a distance between the sidewheels 310, 320 and the reverse wheels 410, 420 in FIG. 3B is fartherthan that in FIG. 3A. Moreover, because of the configurations of thescrews 530 and the slotted holes 230, the axle 430 can be moved forwardor backward along a horizontal line to prevent tilt occurring betweenthe axle 430 and the frame 200. When the axle 430 is at the expectedposition, the user can tighten the bolts 520 to secure the axle 430. Aforce comes from the bolts 520 will push the axle 430 far away from thefastening holes 240 to make sure that the fasteners 510 are tightlyengaged with the fastening holes 240 and the threading holes 432. Hence,the relative position of the reverse wheels 410, 420 will not be changedarbitrarily while the user is operating the direction-reversing device100.

FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of a direction-reversing device 100b according to another embodiment the present disclosure. Thedirection-reversing device 100 b includes a frame 200 b, two side wheel(not labeled), a reverse wheel module 400 b, a flexible member (notlabeled) and a tension adjusting mechanism 500 b. The structure of theframe 200 b, the side wheels, the reverse wheel module 400 b and theflexible member are similar to the structure of the frame 200, the sidewheels 310, 320, the reverse wheel module 400 and the flexible member600 described in FIGS. 1 to 3B, but structure of the tension adjustingmechanism 500 b are different. To be more specific, in the embodiment ofFIGS. 1 to 3B, the tension adjusting mechanism 500 includes bolts 520,but in the embodiment of FIG. 4, the bolts 520 are omitted.

FIG. 5 shows a three dimensional view of an exercise equipment 110according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 6 showsa three dimensional view of a direction-reversing device 100 a and leversets 800 a of FIG. 5. The exercise equipment 110 includes a supportingframe 910 a, a direction-reversing device 100 a and two lever sets 800a. The direction-reversing device 100 a is disposed on the supportingframe 910 a. The two lever sets 800 a are connected to the two sidewheels 310 a, 320 a (shown in FIG. 6) of the direction-reversing device100 a,respectively. The two lever sets 800 a are linked with thedirection-reversing device 100 a for swinging reciprocately andreversely.

To be more specific, the exercise equipment 110 can further include ahandle 920 a, a seat base 930 a, and a case 940 a. The handle 920 a isdisposed at the supporting frame 910 a for the user to hold duringoperating the exercise equipment 110. The seat base 930 a is disposed atthe supporting frame 910 a for the user to sit. The direction-reversingdevice 100 a can further be covered by the case 940 a for dust proof.The lever sets 800 a are disposed outside of the case 940 a for the userto step on. Hence, the user can do high knee exercise, with one kneeswinging toward the first direction while another knee swinging towardthe second direction, via the assistance of the direction-reversingdevice 100 a.

As shown in FIG. 6, the direction-reversing device 100 a includes aframe 200 a, two side wheels 310 a, 320 a, a reverse wheel module 400 a,a flexible member 600 a, and a tension adjusting mechanism 500 a. Thestructures and configurations of the frame 200 a, the reverse wheelmodule 400 a, the flexible member 600 a and the tension adjustingmechanism 500 a are similar to the frame 200, the reverse wheel module400, the flexible member 600 and the tension adjusting mechanism 500 asdescribing in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, and will not describeagain herein. The side wheels 310 a, 320 a include grooves 311 a, 312 afor disposing the flexible member 600 a, so that the flexible member 600a can be holed at a proper position for rotating with each of the sidewheels 310 a, 320 a. Of course, the fabrication for securing theflexible member will not limited to the aforementioned secure structures700 in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 and the aforementioned grooves311 a, 312 a.

Each lever set 800 a includes a lever 810 a and a pedal 820 a. The twolevers 810 a are connected the side wheel 310 a and the side wheel 320a, respectively. The pedals 820 a are pivotally connected to the levers810 a. Through the configuration of the lever sets 800 a, the user canput his/her feet on the pedals 820 a, respectively, so as to rotate thelevers 810 a and the side wheels 310 a, 320 a. Because the flexiblemember 600 a is wound around the side wheels 310 a, 320 a and thereverse wheel module 400 a, the side wheel 310 a can rotate at the firstdirection while the side wheel 320 rotates at the second direction.Therefore, the feet of the user can swing toward opposite directions,respectively, and achieve a goal of reversing-exercise.

Although the present disclosure has been described in considerabledetail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodimentsare possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claimsshould not be limited to the description of the embodiments containedherein.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made to the structure of the presentdisclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure.In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present disclosurecover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fallwithin the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A direction-reversing device, comprising: aframe; two side wheels pivotally disposed on two side of the frame,respectively; a reverse wheel module disposed at the frame, andcomprising: two reverse wheels coaxially disposed to the frame, thereverse wheels being perpendicular to the side wheels; a flexible memberwound around the side wheels and the reverse wheels; and a tensionadjusting mechanism disposed at the frame, comprising: at least onefastener connecting the reverse wheel module to the frame; wherein thefastener is for changing a relative position between the frame and thereverse wheel module, and a tension of the flexible member is changedaccordingly.
 2. The direction-reversing device of claim 1, wherein theframe comprises at least one fastening hole, and the reverse wheelmodule further comprises: an axle connecting the reverse wheels,, theaxle being disposed inside the frame and comprising at least onethreading hole corresponding to the fastening hole; wherein the fasteneris engaged with the threading hole through the fastening hole.
 3. Thedirection-reversing device of claim 2 wherein the axle further comprisesat least one pin hole, the frame further comprises at least one slottedhole, and the tension adjusting mechanism further comprises at least onescrew coupled with the pin hole and the slotted hole.
 4. Thedirection-reversing device of claim 3, wherein the tension adjustingmechanism further comprises: a bolt inserting into the frame to pushagainst the axle.
 5. The direction-reversing device of claim 1, furthercomprising: two secure structures, each of the secure structures beingdisposed at each of the side wheels for restricting the flexible memberbetween the each of the side wheels and thereof.
 6. Thedirection-reversing device of claim 5, wherein each of the securestructures comprises a pad to abut against the flexible member.
 7. Thedirection-reversing device of claim 6, wherein the pad of each of thesecure structures comprises a rough surface towards the flexible member.8. The direction-revering device of claim 1, wherein each of the sidewheels comprises a groove, and the flexible member is disposed in thegroove.
 9. The direction-reversing device of claim 1, wherein theflexible member is a belt, a cable, a wire or a cord.
 10. An exerciseequipment, comprising: a supporting frame; a direction-reversing devicedisposed on the supporting frame, comprising: a frame; two side wheelspivotally disposed on two side of the frame, respectively; a reversewheel module disposed at the frame, comprising: two reverse wheelscoaxially disposed to the frame, the reverse wheels being perpendicularto the side wheels; a flexible member wound around the side wheels andthe reverse wheels; and a tension adjusting mechanism disposed at theframe, comprising: at least one fastener connecting the reverse wheelmodule to the frame, the fastener being for changing a relative positionbetween the frame and the reverse wheel module, and a tension of theflexible member being changed accordingly; and two lever sets connectedto the two side wheels of the direction-reversing device, respectively,the two lever sets linked with the direction-reversing device forswinging reciprocately and reversely.
 11. The exercise equipment ofclaim 10, wherein the frame comprises at least one fastening hole, andthe reverse wheel module further comprises: an axle connecting thereverse wheel, the axle being disposed inside the frame and comprisingat least one threading hole corresponding to the fastening hole; whereinthe fastener is engaged with the threading hole through the fasteninghole.
 12. The exercise equipment of claim 11, wherein the axle furthercomprises at least one pin hole, the frame further comprises at leastone slotted hole, and the tension adjusting mechanism further comprisesat least one screw coupled with the pin hole and the slotted hole. 13.The exercise equipment of claim 11, wherein the tension adjustingmechanism further comprises: a bolt inserting into the frame to pushagainst the axle.
 14. The exercise equipment of claim 10, furthercomprising: two secure structures, each of the secure structures beingdisposed at each of the side wheels for restricting the flexible memberbetween the each of the side wheels and thereof.
 15. The exerciseequipment of claim 14, wherein each of the secure structures comprises apad to abut against the flexible member.
 16. The exercise equipment ofclaim 10, wherein each of the side wheels comprises a groove, and theflexible member is disposed in the groove.
 17. The exercise equipment ofclaim 10, wherein each of the lever sets comprise: a lever forconnecting one of the side wheels; and a pedal pivotally connected tothe lever.